Bobi Wine now under house arrest after revealing his plan B
Kampala. Police and military last evening surrounded the home of Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, a few hours after he had announced his plan to walk to police in a public demonstration to protest continuous brutality against his music shows and Opposition politicians.
He urged all aggrieved Ugandans to join the fight against injustice.
Bobi Wine was put under house arrest in what police said was a preventive measure to stop the Opposition politician from holding unlawful public assemblies.
“Those are preventive measures under the preventive policy of keeping law and order. As long as he still has threats of conducting unlawful assemblies, our intelligence we help us get that and we shall be able to see what next. However, as of now, we shall keep our forces there because this has become an issue of national security,” Mr Fred Enanga, the police spokesperson, said last evening.
Hours earlier, Bobi Wine had announced a plan to hold public demonstrations countrywide to protest continuous police blockade against his music shows and brutality against Opposition politicians.
He announced the move at his home in Magere, Kasangati Sub-county in Wakiso District in the afternoon shortly after police had blocked him in the morning from reaching his One Love Beach in Busabala and bundled him into a police vehicle and dumped him at his residence.
Mr Kyagulanyi was heading to his beach to address the media about the next course after police cancelled his Kyarenga Extra concert at the beach on Easter Monday.
“I wanted to tell the world what next and that is what the police didn’t want to hear. We have used all lawful ways for police to stop blocking my shows and brutalising the Opposition but they have failed to understand. I am calling for another lawful method and that is to protest,” Bobi Wine told the media at his residence in Kasangati.
Tension ensued in Busabala yesterday after police blocked Bobi Wine’s procession to the artiste’s One Love Beach.
Bobi Wine was arrested and whisked away in a police van and later dumped at his home in Magere.
He told the media at his home in Magere that he would write a letter and personally deliver it to the police to notify them about his planned peaceful public demonstrations countrywide.
“I will write to police myself and take the letter on foot. I will walk there and wait for my response from them. I call upon all the other Ugandans to write as many letters as possible. We need to get many of them and we see,” he added.
In response, Mr Enanga said they would respond after Bobi Wine has written to them.
“There are laws that govern assemblies, public addresses and peaceful demonstrations. If Bobi Wine writes to us and he fulfils all the requirements of the POMA law (Public Order Management Act), then we shall concur because they have their right,” Mr Enanga said.
On Sunday, police wrote to Bobi Wine’s promoters indicating that his music concerts in Kampala, Lira, Gulu and Arua on Easter Monday and May 3, May 4, May 5, respectively would not take place because the organisers had failed to meet the security guidelines and holding them would be putting lives of revellers at risk.
Blocked shows
Bobi Wine yesterday said the aborted Easter shows bring the total number of his music concerts blocked by police to 124 since 2017. In 2017, police blocked Bobi Wine’s shows dubbed Kyarenga, saying he had failed to separate his music career from politics.
They argued that Bobi Wine the musician and Mr Kyagulanyi, the politician, are two different personalities and they only wanted the musician on stage, not the politician.
Bobi Wine said he sued the police about the blocked shows but the case has not been fixed for hearing in court.
